Columnist, aging-issues activist Jane Glenn Haas dies at 75

Jane Glenn Haas, bottom, recovering from shoulder replacement in 2012. She managed to look her best with help from Vicki Valenzuela in Haas' room at Newport Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, Newport Beach. CINDY YAMANAKA, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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In 2012, Jane Glenn Haas used a resistance band for leg strength at Newport Nursing and Rehabilitation Center. CINDY YAMANAKA, FILE, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Jane Glenn Haas at the leg press at Nifty After Fifty in Garden Grove in 2008. ANA VENEGAS, FILE, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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'Time of Your Life' by Jane Glenn Haas.

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Columnist Jane Glenn Haas worked at the Register from 1982 through 2006. NICK KOON, FILE, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

In 2009, the Register's Jane Glenn Haas, WomanSage founder, accepted the Outstanding Philanthropic Group Award on behalf of her organization. WomanSage is a national nonprofit community of women 45 years and older who focus on the empowerment of midlife women. She spoke at the Anaheim Marriott. FILE PHOTO: H. LORREN AU JR., ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

Jane Glenn Haas, an iconic columnist and reporter for the Orange County Register, wore many hats during her career: journalist, feminist, author, TV host, theater lover, inspiring public speaker and founder of WomanSage, an organization promoting the potential of women in midlife and beyond. But she will be remembered above all as a superachiever who never ran out of ideas or the enthusiasm to bring them to life.

Haas died at 6:30 a.m. Wednesday from complications after a stroke. She was 75.

Haas enjoyed a multifaceted career in Orange County that included a 20-plus year run as a reporter and columnist with the Register, as well as a stint as a publicist for the Irvine Co. Following her 2006 retirement from the Register, Haas' career found a new gear, as she continued writing as many as two columns a week that ran in the Register and were distributed to more than 300 other newspapers nationally. She also regularly reviewed books for Orange Coast magazine.

But even as she continued to write, often about aging and health issues, Haas maintained a lifelong passion for working to help women feel dignity and power throughout their lives.

"Jane created something wonderful when she started WomanSage. She helped women who are really struggling," said the organization's president, Marilyn Ditty. "(WomanSage) provides friendship, but also a network to help women get back on their feet."

Among Haas' many awards and honors are the American Society on Aging's Media Award, the American Medical Writers Association's Rose Kushner Award, the American Heart Association's C. Everett Koop Award and the Alzheimer's Association's Rosemary Award. She was twice nominated by the Register for Pulitzer Prize consideration.

An Irvine resident, Haas was nationally recognized as an expert on women's mid- and later-life issues, which earned her attention in Time magazine, The New York Times, The Chicago Tribune and other publications. She was asked to be a featured writer in a special Time report on women at midlife.

"Jane was in charge of the Department of Aging for our paper. And she was a master at it. We learned so much as she charged headlong through her own productive life," said Ken Brusic, editor and senior vice president of the Register.

"We weighed the plusses and minuses of her middle-age facelift. We suffered through the painful, but rejuvenating, replacement of various worn-out body parts. She allowed us to see the joy of a grandchild's birth and the pain and loss of a son, husband and beloved aunt," Brusic added.

"It was a long, wonderful, joyful journey."

Haas was a respected author ("Time of Your Life: Why Almost Everything Gets Better After Fifty") and a familiar face at the national level. She appeared on NBC's "Today" and was a featured speaker at the Texas Governor's Conference for Women, the Massachusetts Governor's Conference for Women and the Xerox Women's Alliance. Los Angeles CBS-TV commentator Stacey Butler featured Haas and WomanSage in a two-part series. For seven years, Haas hosted a call-in TV program on aging issues on the Register's former news channel, OCN. She appeared regularly on PBS stations KCET and KOCE.

Haas was born on May 16, 1937 in Buffalo, New York. She considered Buffalo, New York City and Chicago her hometowns. She appreciated the TV series "Mad Men" because that was how she remembered Manhattan when she worked there as a young woman: a man's world. She waged war on sexism and ageism her entire life.

"She was very proud of her work at the forefront of the women's movement," said her daughter, Joanne Lucas.

Haas began her journalism career at the Courier News in Elgin, Ill. "I was only 2 when she went to work," said Lucas. "She made $75 a week. Her editor said he'd pay her more, but she was a woman. Well, within a year she got her first raise."

Haas' last column in the Register was about breaking her arm. She fell in her home on Christmas Day and remained on the floor for 10 hours until a friend found her. In typical Haas fashion, she wrote about the incident with humor and candor, explaining what she could have done to prevent it. She warned that falls are a leading cause of injury and death for older Americans.

"As we all live longer, we all play Ring Around the Rosie, whether we want to or not," Haas wrote.

"Jane got very excited and passionate about whatever story she was working on. She always had a large network of sources in the industry," said Dennis Foley, a Register editor who worked with Haas when she was a business reporter in the late 1980s.

Although Haas was older than many reporters, "I never thought about her age," Foley added. "She was always full of enthusiasm and energy."

Haas' daughter, Lucas, said her mother was interested in leaving a legacy.

"She thought that was very important. She saw WomanSage as something that reached a broad audience." As a journalist, Lucas said, her mother was "a very strong person, very direct in her manner. She was willing to ask tough questions and write about tough issues."

Lucas fondly remembers the big parties her mother would throw when the family lived in Elgin. And Haas' longtime friend, Carolyn Charkey, said Haas' life should be commemorated in similar fashion. "How would she like to be remembered? With great gusto and a big photo. She was used to being the center of attention and she loved it," said Charkey, who started at the Register the same week as Haas in 1982.

Haas lived alone in Irvine, but kept company with Winston Eaton, her beloved Boston terrier.

In addition to her daughter, Joanne Lucas, of Long Beach, Haas is survived by a son, Andrew Haas, of Keene, N.H.; and seven grandchildren. She was predeceased by her second husband, Bob Eaton, a retired Register copy editor, and her son, Thomas Haas.

Haas' remains will be cremated and her ashes interred at her parent's grave site in Hastings-on-Hudson, NY. A private celebration of her life will be held later. Her family has requested that in lieu of flowers, contributions should be sent to WomanSage, 5319 University Drive, Suite 136, Irvine 92612. Messages to her family should be sent to 52 Seton Road, Irvine 92612.

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